Iheanacho grabs first Premier League hat-trick as Leicester climb to second

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Kelechi Iheanacho’s first Premier League hat-trick helped Leicester to a 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United to consolidate their place in the top four.

It was a nightmare start to Paul Heckingbottom’s interim tenure. He replaced the departed Chris Wilder late on Saturday, with Sheffield United mustering just one shot on target at the King Power Stadium and suffering their heaviest defeat of the season.

Iheanacho opened things up in the first half as he tapped home a sweeping Jamie Vardy cross to score in three successive Premier League games for the first time.

But it was after the break when Leicester truly overpowered their opponents. Ayoze Perez added the second with a lovely finish, with Vardy once again setting up Iheanacho in the 69th minutes for his second of the afternoon soon after.

The Nigeria striker’s hat-trick goal was a thing of beauty as he powered home from 25 yards out, before Vardy’s cross was turned home by Ethan Ampadu at close range to round off a bruising defeat for Sheffield United.

With nine games remaining, a top-four place and the chance to make amends for last season’s late collapse from the Champions League positions is within Leicester’s reach.
And it is the notable upturn in output from Iheanacho that is currently driving that push.

Iheanacho, bought from Manchester City for £25m in 2017, now has seven goals in his last eight games in all competitions following an impressive performance which demonstrated precisely why Leicester originally signed him.

The 24-year-old undeniably benefited from some magnificent passing moves behind him, but he worked hard for his team and was clinical and assured in his finishing when picked out by two perfectly weighted passes from Vardy.

Leicester move into second place, above Manchester United, who face West Ham later on Sunday, while Sheffield United are 14 points adrift of safety.

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